


The lost purpose, from nowhere, sings vision

by ShadowsOffense



Category: Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Choices, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 20:48:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2164674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowsOffense/pseuds/ShadowsOffense
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the opposite side of the Chantry wall Leandra overhears a song, but the Blight is coming and in the end, what use is music?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The lost purpose, from nowhere, sings vision

“Red is the rose that in yonder garden grows/and fair is the lily of the valley.”

It was a country love song. Leandra had heard it sung many times: in tones of joy, in the warbling cracks of adolescent pining, and in various shades of drunkenness. Never had it sounded so sad, nor been sung in so fine a voice, as that that came drifting over the Chantry’s garden wall.

It was risky, the girls being in the village, but Marian and Bethany would not let her come alone with the darkspawn so close. She had convinced her children to wait at the tavern while she dealt with that dreadful merchant outside the Chantry and it’s Templars, but the longer she lingered, the more likely it was that Marian’s temper or Bethany’s compassion would get the better of them. Even so, Leandra slowed to a near crawl, listening:

“The moon and the stars, they were shining/The moon shone its rays on her locks of raven hair/And she swore she'd be my love forever.”

Grief, pure and poignant, broke like a wave in the last line of the verse and carried into the chorus. Leandra’ heart went out to the singer, so clear that, this time, the song was about someone specific. Each word of the closing verse rang of the goodbye the lyrics meant it to be.

“...And my heart is breaking, forever.”

Leandra breathed the last line along with unknown bard, her own heart yearning for Malcolm, breaking a little more, as if she had not lost him years ago. 

As the last note fell away, the singer’s voice rose again; a strange, new echo in her tone as she repeated two lines from the first verse.

“You choose the rose, love, and I’ll make the vow/and I’ll be your-”

The song cut off.

“Forever.” The word was spoken. 

Leandra was surprised, both to hear the Orlesian accent that had been masked in the singing and by the firmness of the word. “I once promised such to her.” There was the sadness again, but the voice did not soften completely. There was a strength now, a quiet undertone, firm as bedrock. “Perhaps I can do better this time. The blight must be stopped.”

Silence. 

Leandra’s girls were waiting. Still, she glanced, a peek, into the garden as she passed the arched gate. There was no one. The garden wilted in the summer heat, dead and black, save for a rose in the heart of a gnarled tangle of thorns, red as blood.

_Blessed are the righteous, the lights in the shadow.  
In their blood the Maker's will is written._

**Author's Note:**

> It could be her head wasn't screwed on just right, like she was one archdemon short of a Blight.


End file.
